The Opposite of Happiness is Not Sadness
The opposite of happiness is not sadness. It is emptiness. It is feeling nothing, doing nothing, existing for no reason.
A happy life will not be one devoid of sadness (you think you can get through life without sadness?) but one filled with meaning, with doing things, with reasons for existing.
Happiness, then, comes down to purpose. More specifically, it comes down to making forward movement in the direction of your purpose.
Some people call this progress.
The opposite of happiness is making no progress. This is what emptiness feels like. When there is no point in doing anything, there is no progress being made. There is no ultimate purpose. There is only giving up before you’ve begun.
When there does feel like there’s a point, we focus on progression.
This is happiness.
So basically, happiness is work. Happiness is sweat and tears and sliding down the wall in frustration.
Happiness is all the things you’re doing to get to… well, happiness.
Conclusion?
Keep working.
This is a post from my free newsletter, The First Thing. Get daily inspiration in your inbox every morning by signing up here. 🌤
